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California’s new mental health court rolls out to high expectations and uncertainty

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:13 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — An alternative mental health court program designed to fast-track people with untreated schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders into housing and medical care — potentially without their consent — kicked off in seven California counties, including San Francisco, on Monday.Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom created the new civil court process, called “CARE Court,” as part of a massive push to address the homelessness crisis in California. Lawmakers approved it despite deep misgivings over insufficient housing and services, saying they needed to try something new to help those suffering in public from apparent psychotic breaks. Families of people diagnosed with severe mental illness rejoiced because the new law allows them to petition the court for treatment for their loved ones. Residents dismayed by the estimated 171,000 homeless people in California cheered at the possibility of getting them help and off the streets. Critics blasted the new program as ineffe...

Women’s voices and votes loom large as pope opens Vatican meeting on church’s future

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:13 GMT

VATICAN CITY (AP) — A few years ago, Pope Francis told the head of the main Vatican-backed Catholic women’s organization to be “brave” in pushing for change for women in the Catholic Church. Maria Lia Zervino took his advice and in 2021 wrote Francis a letter, then made it public, saying flat out that the Catholic Church owed a big debt to half of humanity and that women deserved to be at the table where church decisions are made, not as mere “ornaments” but as protagonists.Francis appears to have taken note, and this week will open a global gathering of Catholic bishops and laypeople discussing the future of the church, where women — their voices and their votes — are taking center stage for the first time.For Zervino, who worked alongside the former Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio when both held positions in the Argentine bishops’ conference, the gathering is a watershed moment for the church and quite possibly the most consequential thing Francis will have undertaken a...

Vote no on Joe: Southern Republicans look to nationalize 2023 governors’ races by invoking Biden

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:13 GMT

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — President Joe Biden ‘s name won’t appear on the ballot anywhere in 2023, but you wouldn’t know it from the campaigns that Republican candidates for governor are running in Kentucky and Mississippi.GOP nominees in both states — Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron and first-term Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves — are just as likely to mention the Democratic president as they are to name the person they face in the Nov. 7 general election.Tying candidates for governor to national political figures is a well-worn strategy but also reflects an era of deepening ideological divides, according to Carrie Archie Russell, an expert on southern politics at Vanderbilt University. She says forging such links, even when there’s no evidence of a strong connection, allows candidates to create a “mental shortcut for identifying individuals as ‘us’ or ‘them.’”In 2020, then-President Donald Trump won 62% of the vote in Kentucky and 58% in Mississipp...

The justices are taking the bench Monday at the Supreme Court for the first time since June

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:13 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The justices are taking the bench at the Supreme Court for the first time since late June. Their new term is beginning Monday with ethics concerns swirling around the court.The only case being argued Monday concerns the meaning of the word “and” in a federal law dealing with prison terms for low-level drug dealers. The length of thousands of sentences a year are at stake.The court also is expected to get rid of hundreds of appeals that accumulated over the summer.The term is shaping up as an important one for social media as the court continues to grapple with applying older laws and rulings to the digital age.Several cases also confront the court with the continuing push by conservatives to constrict federal regulatory agencies. On Tuesday, the court will hear a challenge that could disrupt the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.The court also is dealing with the fallout from major rulings a year ago that overturned Roe v. Wade and expanded gun rights. A gun cas...

Forced kiss claim leads to ‘helplessness’ for accuser who turned to Olympics abuse-fighting agency

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:13 GMT

DENVER (AP) — When former elite fencer Kirsten Hawkes reached out to her childhood coach for advice about starting her own fencing club, their meeting immediately turned awkward. It began, she said, with an unwanted kiss on the lips when the two met during a fencing tournament in Minneapolis last October. Then, as she and the coach were saying good-bye, he forcibly kissed her — “stuck his tongue in my mouth,” Hawkes told investigators.Hawkes filed a complaint against the then-assistant coach with the U.S. Paralympic team to the U.S. Center for SafeSport, whose mandate is to combat sex abuse in Olympic sports. But it didn’t take long for her to realize she was pitted against not just the coach, but one of the country’s top sports attorneys. “It just led to a sense of helplessness,” Hawkes, 36, told The Associated Press after her allegations against the 52-year-old coach were ultimately rejected. “It shouldn’t be an undue burden for a victim to come forward. But that’s how it en...

Rep. Matt Gaetz is threatening to oust Speaker Kevin McCarthy. It won’t be easy.

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:13 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — “How would you be different as speaker, compared to Mr. Boehner?” a reporter asked then-House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy in September 2015 as the California Republican pursued, and eventually gave up, his first attempt at the speakership. McCarthy laughed while standing next to outgoing Speaker John Boehner — who had just stepped down after facing a threat of removal — and joked that he was from a different generation and wouldn’t be as tan.Eight years later, McCarthy is finding that there are fewer differences between them as he faces a conservative revolt against his speakership.“If somebody wants to remove (me) because I want to be the adult in the room, go ahead and try,” McCarthy told reporters Saturday. And his critics, namely Rep. Matt Gaetz, plan to do just that. On Sunday, the far-right Republican from Florida threatened to use a procedural tool — called a motion to vacate — to try and strip McCarthy of his office as soon as this week after...

Early voting begins in New Zealand’s general election and in Australia for Indigenous ‘Voice’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:13 GMT

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Early voting began on Monday in New Zealand for the nation’s Oct. 14 general election, with conservative contender Christopher Luxon casting his ballot. Early voting also began in some parts of Australia in a referendum that would enshrine in Australia’s constitution a mechanism for Indigenous people to advise Parliament on policies that affect their lives. In New Zealand, the campaign of Prime Minister Chris Hipkins faced a setback on Sunday when he tested positive for COVID-19. He said he would isolate for five days or until he returned a negative test, but planned to continue with some engagements over Zoom.Hipkins and his liberal Labour Party have been lagging behind the opposition National Party, led by Christopher Luxon, in opinion polls.. “After a rough night I woke up this morning feeling pretty unwell and just got this test result,” Hipkins wrote on Instagram, and said he’d work twice as hard when he got back out on the campaign tr...

Indonesian president launches Southeast Asia’s first high-speed railway, funded by China

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:13 GMT

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesian President Joko Widodo inaugurated Southeast Asia’s first high-speed railway on Monday as it was set to begin commercial operations, a key project under China’s Belt and Road infrastructure initiative that will drastically reduce the travel time between two key cities.The project has been beset with delays and increasing costs, and some observers doubt its commercial benefits. But Widodo has championed the 142-kilometer (88-mile) railway, which was issued its official operating license from the Transportation Ministry on Sunday. The $7.3 billion project, largely funded by China, was constructed by PT Kereta Cepat Indonesia-China, known as PT KCIC, a joint venture between an Indonesian consortium of four state-owned companies and China Railway International Co. Ltd. The railway connects Jakarta with Bandung, the heavily populated capital of West Java province, and will cut travel time between the cities from the current three hours to about 40 minu...

Fire erupts in a police headquarters in Egypt, injuring at least 38 people

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:13 GMT

CAIRO (AP) — A huge fire broke out early Monday in a police headquarters in northeastern Egypt, injuring at least 38 people, the health ministry said.The blaze ripped through the multistory police headquarters in the Suez Canal province of Ismailia, according to Hossam Abdel-Ghaffar, a spokesperson for the Health Ministry.He said 12 of the injured were treated at the site, while 26 others were taken to hospitals, all but two suffering from breathing difficulties. Seven of the injured were treated and discharged, he said.It was not immediately clear how many police were in the building at the time of the blaze, which severely damaged the building according to local media.Videos circulated on social media showed flames and black smoke pouring from the building.The cause of the blaze was not immediately known. The state-run MENA news agency said firefighters managed to put out the fire.Safety standards and fire regulations are poorly enforced in Egypt and have been linked to many death...

Late-night shows return after writers strike as actors resume talks that could end their standoff

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:13 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Late-night talk shows are returning after a five-month absence brought on by the Hollywood writers strike, while actors will begin talks that could end their own long work walk-off. CBS’s “ The Late Show With Stephen Colbert,” ABC’s “ Jimmy Kimmel Live! ” and NBC’s “ The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon ” were the first shows to leave the air when the writers strike began on May 2, and now will be among the first to return on Monday night.Comedian John Oliver got his first take on the strike out, exuberantly returning Sunday night to his “Last Week Tonight” show on HBO and delivering full-throated support for the strike.Oliver cheerily delivered a recap of stories from the last five months before turnings serious, calling the strike “an immensely difficult time” for all those in the industry.“To be clear, this strike happened for good reasons. Our industry has seen its workers severely squeezed in recent years,” Oliver said. “So, the writers gu...